The etho-poietic of the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk 10:25-37). The ethics of seeing in a culture of looking the other way

Abstract

Within a culture of âLooking the Other wayâ there are not only empirically ascertainable reasons why help is not given in acute emergency situations, there is also a âTheory of Not-Helpingâ that attempts to demonstrate argumentatively why it may even be better not to help. According to the article, the parable of the âgood Samaritanâ invites us, however, to âlook closelyâ. Four invitations of the text are developed, each with an emphasis on ethics: 1) The narrated Samaritan (The appeal structure of ethics); 2) The touched Samaritan (Ethics in the Context of Love); 3) The partisan Samaritan (Universal ethos of helping â or: Ethics of open partisanship); 4) The charitable Samaritan (Social ethics instead of ethics of conscience).